As my swords reached the bottom of their arcs, the dust cloud my mother and Kalia kicked up with their dashes spread across the training ground.
My mother, unable to use any spells or augmentation due to the rules of the Davo Dugo Guva, surprised me with her natural speed. As she struck from above, Kalia was forced to deflect the blow to her left and attempted a pommel strike on my mother, who ducked under it. With a quick adjustment of her weight distribution, Mom managed to drop into a spinning motion, attempting to slice at Kalia's leg, but she was much faster than that.
Kalia leaped out of the way, only to land a few meters to her right and quickly dash in to try to strike my Mom's exposed side. Seeing this, I heard my mother click her tongue and promptly flip her sword around, so that the point was facing Kalia, creating some space. Seeing that there was a slight amount of hesitation suddenly present in Kalia's movements, Mom dashed in to take full advantage of the opportunity.
She struck repeatedly, aiming her strikes at Kalia's sides, chest, head, and neck at a speed that was difficult even for me to follow along with. Still, Kalia managed to deflect them all and eventually push her away for a counterattack.
This is about what I expected, but I never thought I'd be matched in speed, my mother sent me through our connection as she deflected another handful of strikes. Yeah, she's pretty quick on her feet even without using her odoruki technique, I added with a grin. Whatever you do, do not let her get behind you, Ysevel cautioned playfully.
No cheating, Kalia sent through a grunt of exertion as a heavy blow she intended to deflect caught her sword in a bind. They held it momentarily, and I could see they were enjoying this, even from where I stood. Not only that, but the sensation I was getting from both their cores told me everything else I needed to know.
"So, who's your money on? Mine's on Mom," Bernar said with an air of pride. "Mine would be, too, but I've been fighting Kalia for a decade. I know almost every one of her moves, but even so, I know there's still shit I haven't seen," I replied loosely, carefully observing the battle going on before me, as Mom leaped into the air and launched herself into a spinning attack aimed at Kalia's head.
"A full decade? Does that make you older than me now? Wait, before that, how the fuck were you down there for so long?" he asked, recalling what I'd loosely mentioned before. "Inside the training dome, a hegraphenian sage named Sabura used the properties of Dark mana to alter the flow of time using its density," I explained to refresh his memory, flinching as another cloud of dust blasted small rocks in our direction.
"I might be older than you in terms of years, but not in experience, big brother," I said warmly as I gave him a knowing look. "R-Right, yeah. I knew that," he stammered briefly as if in disbelief of my words. "Did you spend all that time in the dome with Irun and Athar?" he asked, watching as Kalia dashed in for another barrage of strikes, forcing my mother to step back as she deflected the attacks.
"I did, and it took me a long time to be able to trust him again. If it hadn't been for Ysevel, Kalia, and even Athar, I might have never been able to do so," I admitted, scoffing at myself when I remembered how much I would have struggled fighting against him when we'd first arrived in the Underworld. I could feel him reading my thoughts as I recalled the situation of Ysevel holding us in place like separating two children, and I let the memory play out in my mind so he could see the whole story.
After showing him nearly everything right up until Kalia appeared, he seemingly understood a little more than before. The memory was cut short, however, as we noticed both Mom and Kalia preparing to launch another flurry of attacks. "Oh, I've seen this move before," Bernar said confidently, but as soon as I recognized Kalia's stance, I knew this would be an even match.
They dashed in and clashed in the center momentarily, before Mom broke the bind they were in and began a combination of blows I'd only ever seen her use once. Kalia deflected a thrust away from her, but as she did so, my mother used the momentum in her blade to spin it around quickly for another one in succession.
With each deflected thrust, my mom would use the momentum to reverse it into either a thrust or a slash. Kalia began to read her movements and started acting accordingly. I could tell she recognized some of the strikes my mother was doing from her fight with Gravar, but feeling them for herself was a completely different story.
As the two traded blows at matching speeds, I could see Bernar's expression shift from pure confidence in my mother's abilities to slight worry that he might have lost whatever bet he'd made with Gwili and Wyrran. It made me chuckle, but I knew that the duel was coming to a close as soon as I saw them back away from each other. "You're good. Excellent, in fact, Kalia," Mom said between breaths, getting a wry smile from Kalia, who was in a similar state.
"Likewise, Siraye, but I think it's about time we finish this up, as we have other matters to attend to," she replied with a single, firm nod. My mother responded with one of her own, and got into a high guard just like I had, and Taegin before me.
She already knows that move, I kept the thought to myself since Kalia had already scolded me for cheating.
However, the hegraphene surprised me when she entered a perfectly mirrored stance to that of my mother's. I felt both excitement and curiosity emanating from my mother, but a collected sense of confidence coming from Kalia. I'm borrowing your move, Thoma. Sorry about this, she sent me just before the two of them dashed in.
Oh, shit, I thought, recognizing exactly the move she was talking about.
As my mother's blade came down, Kalia shifted her own from a high guard into an uppercut in less time than it took me to blink. My mother, somehow, managed to read and respond to it accordingly, and shifted the weight of her strike to match Kalia's. In the heartbeat before their swords clashed, I could feel a sense of both pride and fulfillment coming from them, as a much larger cloud of dust soared into the air.
"Mom! Kalia!" I shouted, immediately dashing in toward them, followed by Ysevel and Bernar. I knew they were still alive, but in what state, I didn't know. As I got closer, the density of the cloud diminished, and I could see both of their blades halted just before each other's necks, and bright smiles across both of their faces.
"It's a draw!" I shouted out to the others who were watching. The expressions on each of their faces differed, as Irun and Athar were pleasantly surprised, while Leona and her group were mainly shocked. My brother, however, simply chuckled in disbelief. "Well, then, Kalia. I'll certainly look forward to our match," he said, as the two of them pulled their swords away.
Kalia recalled her blade back into the rest of her armor, catching my mother by surprise. "So it wasn't just my imagination," Mom said as she watched the last portion of it be reabsorbed. "I thought I saw you draw your weapon from the sheath at your side, but I never would have imagined you'd produced something like that," she continued, immediately grabbing Kalia's armored forearm to inspect it.
"It's a little different than that, Siraye. The kataki we produce can take on all kinds of shapes, but it will shape itself following the bearer's will," she explained briefly, prompting my mother to immediately look down at my blade and chuckle to herself softly.
"Perhaps one day I will be worthy of the kataki myself. It's no wonder you were able to train them to such a high level," my mother gestured to Ysevel and I, who flushed at the compliment. "Well, to be honest, they're both incredible on their own, but I appreciate the compliment," Kalia said, giving us a knowing look.
"Thank you for the duel, and I accept the draw wholeheartedly," Mom said with complete honesty in her tone as she placed an open palm across her chest and gave her a bow. Kalia returned the gesture she'd learned from Ysevel and I, surprising Bernar the most.
"That was a truly magnificent fight, even though I could hardly follow along with it," Leona said as we returned to the edge of the training ground. "With time, you'll be able to see much more than with just your eyes, Your Majesty, though I'm sure you're already aware of this," Kalia said humbly, to which Leona raised a hand placatingly. "If Aurae doesn't want you to use titles with her, then I would love it if I could receive the same treatment," she smiled brightly, catching Kalia off-balance.
"O-Of course, Leona," she said bashfully as I felt a warm smile creep onto my face. "As for you four," Leona turned to face Ysevel, Irun, Athar, and I, causing my stomach to drop a little. "Were you training with her at that level the entire time?" she asked bluntly with a slight pursing of her lips that dug into the corner of her left cheek.
"I wouldn't say the entire time, but yes," I answered loosely, but she continued to stare at me in disbelief. "Then how did you get so strong? What happened to you?" she asked. I didn't know how to respond immediately, but I was grateful when Ysevel stepped up to answer. "There was a seal placed on his core from a young age. When he arrived here in Caegwen, my mother and Siraye both undid whatever was sealing his core," she began, making Leona gasp in surprise.
"But who would do such a horrible thing to a child?" she asked, but as soon as I was about to answer, I heard Taegin's voice begin to speak. "I can answer that, but I'd rather not do it without some kind of protective measures in place," he said cryptically. He'd put his pendant back on to prevent even more of a shock from the others.
"Master," Leona gave him a curt bow of acknowledgement. "Please, if you'll all follow me, there is much to discuss about the recent events that have taken place," he returned the bow before gesturing for us to follow him back to the main palace.
There was a brief exchange of confused glances, but after some reassurance from Aurae and Siraye, the others followed ahead, while Leona, Bernar, and the other members of The Order trailed behind them. Ysevel and Leona seemed to get along well, likely exchanging stories about something I couldn't quite hear, but whatever it was, I could tell they were both enjoying the conversation along the way.
"So, you and Ysevel, huh?" Bernar asked smugly, yet quietly enough that they wouldn't hear it.